Here We Go!

by jenna on July 2, 2008

Wow!! Sorry for the super delayed post!!!! Today has been crazy!

I slept in until about 8:30 and then had to rush to go pick up Erin’s (ryan’s sister) dog because she is driving with us and we are picking up Erin at the Atlanta airport tonight around 10:30. I took Aspen (the doggy) to the groomers and raced around doing last minute errands all day.

For breakfast I had 1.5 packets of HempPlus oatmeal made with water and a banana. It held me over for about 4 hours while I ran errands and then I picked up a Hummus and Kale Salad wrap from the health food store to take with me to get my hair highlighted. I love these veggie chips but I didn’t want to eat all of them and feel bloated for the car ride when I’m sure this weekend will be full of rich foods and drinks! I only ate the carrots and green beans out today. Everything has been very rushed!

But now its about 3:00 and Ryan, Aspen and I are about to start on our 10-12 hour car journey up to the mountains. I think the weather might be a bit chilly at night (in the 50’s!) and I conveniently bought a new top and sweater from Anthropologie this morning……I told you I’ve been in a rush! haha Anyways, I’m packing tons of snacks for the car and will take a ton of pictures so no one worry. In the snack bag I’ve got “Leaping Lemurs” cereal (by the same maker as panda puffs, its chocolate and peanut butter cereal), raw almonds and z-bars. I think we are going to stop somewhere to eat in northern florida tonight but it will probably be along the lines of subway or quiznos. I wanted to have time to pack sandwiches but the day got away from me and clearly shopping at Anthro was more important. Oops!

About the internet this weekend. Much to my dismay, Ryan just informed me that we won’t even get cell phone service where we are going. I’ll still try everyday to blog but if there’s no wireless connection I will just have to make a massive post on Sunday when we get back. Hopefully that won’t be the case though!! My laptop is pretty good about picking up random connections from places so I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to get online. Regardless, I fully plan to photograph everything—even when Ryan and I go horseback riding on Friday! =) So just know if I do disappear for awhile, I will be back!

Polly and Nicole (I have one last yoga question for you, I promise this is my last yoga question!)

One reason I have been hesitant about yoga is a lot of the poses rely on putting your weight on your wrists. I have REALLY small wrists and quite frankly, I feel like I could be hurting my wrists in the long run if I keep putting my entire body weight on them. I know there are wedges, but honestly, that seems unwieldy to in the middle of flowing from one pose to another to place a wedge under your hands. It seems like it would really disrupt the flow of things. I can do things like downdog, it’s just the repetition of doing them hurts, but other poses require my head go on the front of the mat, so I would then constantly be moving the wedges out of the way. Hope that made sense!

hi lauren–
i promise that any studio you go to will have teachers who are THRILLED to help you with adjusting poses to suit your needs. this is really underutilized i think because people are afraid to admit when they’re injured or have weak spots. so when students ask for help or alterations, teachers get so excited haha. if you do happen to find a studio you like, just let the teacher know your concerns and he or she will have a BEVY of solutions just for you.
having said that, yoga will definitely HELP your weak wrists if you ease into it and don’t overdo it with crazy poses early on. i have teeeeeeny tiny wrists too (can’t wear bracelets haha its so sad), so i definitely know how you feel. you can modify a lot of poses like plank and down dog by working on your forearms or fists instead of flexed hands. i never used a wedge, so im not sure how much they help people, but i use props all the time and moving them out of the way doesnt usually disrupt flow. you can just shove/kick them and it takes like a second. dolphin pose is a great alternative to downward dog because it’s the same position, just done on the forearms (try google image or yogajournal.com if you dont know what i mean). you can really hurt your shoulders here though (just like dd), so make sure you always keep pushing them DOWN down down and dont fall forward on your arms but pull back and stick your butt out and up. also, lots of places sell wrist braces that help to strengthen and align your wrists. the owner of my studio in boston never works without them, and neither does ana forrest who is kind of absurd with the yoga she does (forrest yoga is her doing if you’ve ever heard of it…i think she secretly doesnt have bones or joints at all haha), so don’t be self conscious about wearing them if you feel they’d help.
good luck!

I wish I could meet you in person cause I think we are very similar. I too, have very tiny wrists. I am tall and kinda lean (as in I have a butt, but a bubble is good) and when I first started yoga I was like “this is going to hurt my wrists!!” I actually had sore wrists for a while. BUT… eventually it’s AWESOME for your wrists and you will get so strong and it will be worth the time and patience. Like with all yoga, just stick with it. If you were one of my students, I’d for sure give you modifications and tell you to take childs pose as often as you’d like. Many of my new students put so much weight on their arms in downward dog since they are so tight through the hips and hamstrings. They need to bend their knees and press their sit bones and hips up and BACK. They just want to lean forward in order to ease the stretch on the legs, when if fact they are putting all their weight on their arms.

Nicole, my other “friend from the blog” gave super info too. Props are awesome. I use them often just to show my class that it’s wonderful to do so, so no quilt is attatched to those blocks! Also, in Anusara yoga (you can tell I love this style) it’s about pressing down to lift up. (think side bodies long, tips of the shoulder blades pressing your heart forward, shoulder blades move onto the back and avoid squishing your shoulders. That is very common when you begin downward dog to squish shoulder or scrunch… I keep telling my students to move the tops of the shoulders away from the ears and melt the heart forward, and not to collapse the back in the process. Yoga is so funny, isn’t it? All the yummy parts happen in between the poses I think, when we’re breathing and realizing how crazy hard and wonderful each pose is… Oh my I am rambling!

This is my first post, but I am a HUGE fan of you and Eat, Live, Run. My friends make fun of me for talking about “my favorite bloggers” as if I actually know them!

I am a complete disaster in the kitchen, not to be trusted with sharp things or boiling water, but I am a total foodie in disguise. I came across a book today that I think you would absolutely love. It’s called “The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry” by Kathleen Flinn — it’s about how the author ditched her corporate job to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and everything she learned in doing so. I want to read it myself but I’m kinda waiting for paperback (when I saw it I’d already gone crazy with like 10 other books) — student budget, you know!

Check it out when you get a chance — my friend called me a creeper when I spotted the book, yelped and was like “I have to write Jenna!” I’d love to know your thoughts. Keep doing what you do — the blog is amazing and lighthearted and has really helped me think about my relationship with food. Thank you so much for everything.

I have a question for anyone who can answer it:
What does almond milk taste like? They have it on sale at my grocery store and i really want to give it a try. Do you all buy the sweetened version or unsweetened? Is the chocolate sweetened variety as good as regular chocolate milk? If so i think it will be a good replacment since it is so much healthier and contains more natural ingredients. How is the vanilla sweetend-too sweet, just right,…? What does the original taste like? Thanks for answering this complicated question! I’m just really curious and want to purchase the right one so i don’t waste money/food!
Thank you!

Almond milk is awesome. I drink it in my morning coffee and by itself. My favorite is the Almond Breeze chocolate (SO GOOD), but vanilla is tasty, too. I don’t care for the unsweetened, though… it has absolutely no flavor. I’d recommend buying one carton of chocolate and one carton of vanilla, so you can do a taste test